Wagaliciousness Begins Here!

Do you work in an office? Is it a ghost town today? Welcome to IRS Appreciation Day.

OK, so I made that holiday up. We might as well appreciate them – we’ve been stuck with them for our entire lives and probably will be for the rest of our lives.

Maybe the holiday should be National Procrastinators Day, a day to use PTO to take care of paperwork we’ve known since January we had to take care of, and yet we put it off until the last possible day. Oh, wait – the truly great procrastinators will file an extension, putting off that paperwork as long as possible.

And yet, it still has to be done.

Why the heck do we dread doing taxes, when for most of us, it’s not that big a deal. We either can do the simplified version of taxes, or we can hire someone to do the more complicated version for us. Fifty one percent of Americans file in the first two weeks of April or later. Over half of us put it off until the last minute, or beyond the last minute.

Over half. Why? The top three reasons for...

When was the last time you were in your local library? That lovely sanctuary filled with silence, books, knowledgeable people, and the educational resources of the world at your fingertips remains one of the best-kept secrets paid for by tax dollars. 

Since you’re paying for it anyway, why not check out what your library has to offer? And if you have an hour or two (or more) each month, think about volunteering your time and expertise at your library. 

I’m a volunteer. Actually, I volunteer in a lot of different ways, one of them having to do with libraries. My dog Archie is a therapy dog who spends time three Wednesdays a month in two different libraries.  

 On the first and third Wednesdays, we’re in the children’s area of a Marietta, GA public library branch where children sign up to read books out loud to Archie. The first-, second- and third-graders are mainly home-schooled kids whose moms bring them to the library for group enrichment programs. Archie’s attentive listening hel...

A million years ago, I read a book. It changed the way I thought about making money. It changed the way I thought about a lot of things. 

The book is “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow” by Marsha Sinetar. It was reasonably revolutionary in 1989, when it came out. Two generations who had been raised to achieve by going into the more lucrative career pathways, whether they liked what they were doing or not, dominated the workforce. Many of them were doing what they had been told they “should” do in order to be good adults and good providers. Many of them were “living the dream” and not loving it, not one little bit. But they were doing it, because they believed they should. 

Were you raised with expectations of the career path you should take? Did you take it? How did it work out for you? 

Your answer to those questions probably depends on which life group you landed in when you were born. Boomers and Millennials report more parental pressure to conform, career-wise, than Gen...

A million years ago, I read a book. It changed the way I thought about making money. It changed the way I thought about a lot of things. 

The book is “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow” by Marsha Sinetar. It was reasonably revolutionary in 1989, when it came out. Two generations who had been raised to achieve by going into the more lucrative career pathways, whether they liked what they were doing or not, dominated the workforce. Many of them were doing what they had been told they “should” do in order to be good adults and good providers. Many of them were “living the dream” and not loving it, not one little bit. But they were doing it, because they believed they should. 

Were you raised with expectations of the career path you should take? Did you take it? How did it work out for you? 

Your answer to those questions probably depends on which life group you landed in when you were born. Boomers and Millennials report more parental pressure to conform, career-wise, than Gen...

Today let’s play with imagination. Pretend you’re five years old, have unlimited resources, and no one to tell you that you can’t do whatever it is you’re thinking of doing.

Power, right? Fun, right? What will you create?

If that question stumped you, you’re not alone. Many people freeze when asked to imagine their lives bigger. Sure, it would be fun to own an island in the Caribbean. That’s a lovely dream. Then the details rear their ugly heads – where will the food come from? Who will build the house and where will all those materials come from? Is there even wifi out there? The lovely dream suddenly becomes a bit scary, feeling more like a chore and less like bliss.

Let’s start again – pretend you’re five years old, have unlimited resources, and no one to tell you no, what will you do. What will you create, where will you go, who will you be?

Using the imagination is powerful – it literally lets you live your dreams inside your head. The trick is to keep the yeah, but’s reined i...

Quick – what did you have for breakfast? What will you have for lunch or dinner? Snacks? When you think about your pantry, do you have some food in there? How about your refrigerator and freezer – food of any kind, even if it’s just a slightly moldy lemon, some ketchup, and a half-full quart of ice cream?

Take a moment and give thanks for farmers. Unless you personally grow or raise it, the food you eat comes to you through the hard work of farmers and ranchers.

About 10% of the American work force works on farms, ranches, or other places where the food we consume originates. About 3.4 million people either own or manage a farm that produces food for us to eat. Where would we be without them? Can you imagine having to spend large parts of your life growing/raising the food for your table and your family? The US economy and our own personal lifestyles have benefited greatly from the dedicated people who own dirt and use it to create food.

When you think about it that way, farmers are...

As I sit here eating yet another Samoa, I remember my single-digit days when I’d don my green uniform, carefully arrange my badge-encrusted sash, and head out to knock on neighbors’ doors, Girl Scout cookie order sheet in hand. There was an iceberg in my stomach and my knees knocked as I pressed the first doorbell, though the fear eventually subsided. The more front doors that were opened by smiling people the smaller the iceberg became, the more stable my knees became, and the more fun I started having, whether those people bought any cookies or not.

I wonder how many successful women started that way. Did you?

This is Girl Scout Week. Not to take anything away from the more testosterone-laden half of society, this week is designed to shine a spotlight on the more than 50 million women who’ve been part of Girl Scouts, plus the girls currently in the program.

Were you part of a scouting program? If so, it’s likely that you grew up learning more leadership skills, better communicatio...

Have you ever thought about harnessing up 16 sled dogs, putting them in front of a sled loaded with dog food, survival gear, and a few protein bars for you, and heading out for a week or two into arctic weather, 1128 miles of rugged trail conditions, and wildlife that might want to hurt you?

Yeah, me neither! Yet that’s just what thirty-three otherwise rational humans are doing right now.

There were forty mushers – 7 mushers withdrew from the Iditarod before it even started. Came to their senses, you might say? Many others would join that chorus – for the thirty-three mushers, this is what they’ve waited and trained for their entire lives. The challenge of what’s called the Last Great Race on Earth is one they feel they’re up for, and the “prove it” is happening now on the windswept wilderness between Fairbanks and Nome, Alaska. Some teams will be on the trail for eight or 9 days, most far longer, and some teams will scratch along the way, ending their shot at completing the Iditarod...

Do you remember a decade ago when ice bucket challenge videos were all the rage? Lost in the “I wanna do that too” frenzy of Insta-copy cats was a very poignant story: the story of a man with ALS, his dear friend Yvette, and their desire to live as happily as possible for as long as possible by following Robert Frost’s advice, carpe diem. As a fund-raiser for ALS support chapters across the country, Yvette is the person who started the ice-bucket-dumping that happened worldwide.

How do you carpe diem? Robert Frost’s 1938 poem entitled “Carpe Diem” included the desire for children to be “happy, happy, happy and seize the day of pleasure.” Popularized in a song by Green Day and the movie “Dead Poets Society”, the term carpe diem is a gentle reminder that time is always passing, and we shouldn’t waste it. Do you, sometimes? Me, too.

If you have a pet, think about how they behave when they’re not sleeping – they’re usually doing something, right? One of my dogs is almost always trying to...

There are people celebrating across America and around the world today. It’s both Global and National Drink Wine Day, and it’s a great reason to look at whatever it is you love from a different vantage point.

We’ll start with wine: people who love wine so much that they’ve made a hobby or a business of it are called oenophiles. It’s a fun word to say – E no file – and it’s fun to see what these people have in common. They love wine so much that they’ve studied and collected it, they travel to the wine regions of the world to learn about its origins, and they learn about food so they can create inspired pairings. Since wine relaxes most people, oenophiles are often pretty laid-back, and since moderate consumption has been touted to create healthier cholesterol levels, maybe they’re even less prone to heart attacks.

What do you love?  

I love dog sports. I’ve owned dogs and shown dogs in conformation, obedience, rally obedience, agility, and so many more sports, and I love the fun of ...